Dead valleys don’t have to be a problem. Unfortunately, many builder/roofers in our area don’t know how to deal with them and it can lead to major water damage.

Architects are creating beautiful modern homes, but don’t really understand how water traffics. They build homes where water from different areas of the roof goes down into a pinch point. That’s the dead valley.

The problem begins when a roofer doesn’t handle the dead valley correctly. They’ll just run a bunch of shingles down with some felt paper and expect it to last. If that’s the case, you’ll probably get a leak in three to seven years in that spot.

We at Roof Life of Oregon can make sure your dead valleys don’t become a problem. At bare minimum, we’ll want to remove those shingles and put a product down called Ice and Water, which is a sticky membrane. That membrane goes down on the plywood and keeps water from trafficking back into the home.

If you really want to make it bulletproof, we want to use metal or some kind of solid membrane like TPO or PVS. Those are designed to completely fill in the area. There’s no way the water can back up. Even if the dead valley collects leaves or debris, those solid membranes hole up and make sure you don’t get any leaks.

The best thing you can do is to give a professional a call. You might not notice you’re having issues from a dead valley because the leak is running inside your walls causing damage. One of us from Roof Life will hop up on your roof and check things out to make sure all of your dead valleys are properly handled and give you options if we see any potential problems. Don’t wait for a leak. Call us for a free inspection.